British Historical Medals

Lot 3400    Session 11 (9.30am Thursday)    British Historical Medals

Estimate $2,500
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $5,000

THE HONORARY PALLET OF THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING ARTS MANUFACTURES AND COMMERCE, undated (1770), in gilt brass (approx 50mm x 63mm, 63.65gm), reverse inscribed 'Given to/Mr Lewis Pingo/Aged 25/Grays Inn Lane/for Model of a Medal/in Wax/Clafs 105'. Very fine.

Ex David Allen Collection and purchased from Ray Tancred, Medal-Badge Dealer (Sydney), c1973. Lewis Pingo (1743-1830), London. Die sinker, engraver, gem engraver and artist. Assistant Engraver, Royal Mint, 1776; Chief Engraver, 1779, retired 1815. Best known for his 1787 ’Spade’ guinea, Cook Royal Society Medal 1784, 1787 sixpence and shilling and Seige of Gibraltar Medal 1782. The first ’Pallets’ were awarded in 1767 (see ’Tickets & Passes of Great Britain and Ireland’ by W.J. Davis & A.W. Waters, ref.361, 362 - p.148). This example (gilt) is specifically mentioned in Leonard Forrer’s ’Biographical Dictionary of Medallists’ (p134). Pingo was also awarded gold Pallets in 1771 and 1772. For additional information on Lewis Pingo, see Christopher Eimer’s ’The Pingo Family & Medal Making in 18th-Century Britain’, British Art Medal Trust, 1998. This medal, while quite scarce is extremely rare as one of numismatic association, perhaps doubly so to someone as important as Lewis Pingo. The only example of a Pallet offered in recent times seems to have been in a London auction in 2010. It was a silver piece estimated at œ400 - œ600, to a pedestrian recipient of no numismatic importance.